Last Day of 2009!

I know a lot of people who are glad that this year is ending.

It seems as if everyone on the planet has experienced some sort of major change in their lives this year.

I personally think it is ending too fast. I mean it just seems like 3 or 4 years ago we were all worried about the new millennium meltdown and that was a decade ago!

2009 was the year of my major cross country move from the west coast to the east coast. Followed by 2 months living in Wilkes-Barre and then a move to Bloomsburg. Humm.... 2 moves in one year and I am not settled. One more move and then I will be settled. That move will take place sometime between March 2010 and July 30, 2010. I don't know where it will be to and am not even contemplating looking until March.

The snow arrived while I was sleeping last night. Kinda magical how that happens. I went outside to shovel off the side walk and it was quiet. The only thing I heard were other shovels scrapping the sidewalk and the smell of fireplaces burning filled the air. I like it! I got in my car and went to the store to get the traditional corn beef and cabbage to throw in the crock pot tonight. I am very proud of myself for sticking to resolution of not becoming immobile because of the snow. I have kept moving and living and going with life.. and I don't think I have gained a pound...lol...lol...lol..

My new friends, Eric and Sara, are having a New Year's Eve party complete with live band. They invited me to join them. I have declined. Eric and Sara are young. Up until around the age of 30 you think that you have to be awake at midnight or you will miss something. After the age of 30 you go to parties and sit around looking at your friends asking each other "Is it midnight yet?" You just want it to be over so you can go to bed and go to sleep. Around the age of 40 you realize that New Year's is going to get here and be the same even while you are sleeping....lol..lol...lol..

The last thing I am going to do this year... is going to be something I have never ever done in my life. My neighbors have invited me over, in the early evening...lol..lol.. to play Wii. I have never done it before and have heard it is a ton of fun.

Be safe and have fun ringing in the new year!

Ciao

How Small is Bloomsburg?

A good time was had by all last night at my first dinner party in Pennsylvania! The food was good and the conversation was grand. Everyone had a lovely time.

I invited Eric and Sara who are a younger couple and live above their store on Main Street. I met them while on my walk on Christmas Eve. Come to find out, my neighbor John, who lives across the street, plays golf with Sara's Dad on Sundays.

I was told that the population of Bloomsburg is approximately 12,000 with 8,000 being University related.

Yesterday I walked into the post office and the lady in front of me had given the postal clerk a change of address card and then turned and walked out of the post office. The postal clerk looked at it and then looked at me and said, "She didn't sign it. Dottie wait right here." And she ran from behind the counter and out the door and down the street after the lady to get her signature. I was in shock. There were people in line who all acted as this this were normal. I was shocked on two accounts; 1) The postal clerk knew and called me by my name, and 2) She ran after a customer!

In Los Angeles it was literally years before the people at the post office acknowledged that they knew me and began calling me by name. Which shouldn't be outrageous since I am there every single day! I do realize it is harder to make personal contact with the people in Los Angeles, at the post office, when there is 3 inches of plexiglass between you and the postal worker. You would put your mail in a window and lower the door and only then would they be able to open the window on their side and get your mail out. It was all so impersonal. I would joke around and say that the reason the plexiglass was there was to prevent us, the public, from being hurt by one of the clerks should they decide to go "postal."

At the downtown Los Angeles post office there were six psychologist "shrinks" on staff for the postal workers to go and talk to if they felt like doing anything crazy. One would really have to wonder about a job where they employee six doctors for your mental state. That's wild!

The picture was taken of me in New Zealand. I am at a deer farm and I am holding up a pair of deer antlers. I had no idea they were fuzzy like a peach. The deer antlers have thousands and thousands of blood vessels in them. They are sliced very thin and sold to the Chinese who believe that putting the deer antlers in their tea and drinking it will help with a variety of health issues.

Ciao

OMG I am a People Person

I have long thought that I am NOT a people person. I think I got this idea because it was so difficult to connect with people in Los Angeles. Not only difficult because of time, traffic and jobs but because of hidden agendas. In Los Angeles, because time is so valuable there's got to be some reason for people to go out of their way to spend time with you. I found it not only difficult but exhausting to connect with friends.

Many years ago I had a friend who lived about 6-7 miles from me. We would send emails back and forth to schedule lunch or a quick hour at Starbucks and every time the date would arrive she would have to cancel (i.e. her dog is sick and has to go to the vet, car trouble, don't feel well, got to run errands for her husband, blah, blah, blah). After 1 year of excuses and no meeting. I called her and said, "It shouldn't be soooo difficult to connect with a friend. This is not normal!"

My stock broker said to me, "Dottie you will do very well on the east coast. You are friendlier than the average person." I don't think I am friendlier than the average person. I think I am probably as friendly as the average person.

Well, I have been in Bloomsburg for 5 months and I am having my first dinner party tonight. I have invited 3 sets of neighbors over for dinner. It should be fun and I am really looking forward to it.

I was having dinner on Christmas Day with one of my neighbors and I mentioned that I love to cook Braciola once a year so that I don't forget how to make it. It's a famous Italian dish that I learned to cook while visiting Bari, Italy in September of 2005. I told my neighbor that I had not had a chance to make it this year and he said, "You still have next week." So I decided to throw together a last minute dinner party so that I can cook the Braciola in 2009.

This picture is of a common sight you see in the fall. Unharvested corn fields... go figure. With all the supposedly starving people on the planet, the government pays farmers not to harvest their crops. I tried to find out some inside dirt on this, on the Internet, but wasn't able to find anything substantial. Just doesn't make much sense to me.

Ciao

Mercury's in Retrograde

From December 26th to January 15th lots of changes will be taking place. Remember it's important not to REACT. Wait until the dust settles, after January 15th, and then see what's left on your plate. Know that it all is happening for the best of everyone!

I am pretty excited about us having a Mercury in Retrograde at the end of the year. The clutter of our life gets cosmically cleaned and removed so that we can begin the new year with only what is truly important and necessary for us will be left.

I am a fan of "weeding the friendship garden". Sometimes we have outgrown friendships or they have decided to take a different path than we have or we have decided to take a different path than they have. I see value in blessing people, being thankful for the time we shared on this planet and wishing them well and moving on. Does that sound cold hearted? Trust me, I don't have a cold heart. I actually have the warmest heart on the planet. I am just a realist I guess. I like to call those spades a spade..lol..lol..

This picture is one that I took during the beautiful fall here. A lone red leaf tree amongst the green. Truly breathtakingly beautiful!

Ciao

The Snow is All Gone!

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, sunny and 50 degrees (10C). There were dark clouds and a few sprinkles but nothing to ruin the day.

I talked to a friend in California yesterday and she said "It's cold here, it's 50 degrees". I laughed and said "It's warm here and it's 50 degrees!" 50 degrees just doesn't seem all that cold to me after experiencing the 20 degree (-6.6C) weather. I ran my errands yesterday with just a turtleneck sweater on, no coat, no scarf and no gloves. I think I am learning that I am more adaptable that I actually thought I would be.

The sun is shining right now and we might get some snow tonight and/or tomorrow. I have now figured out... snow is like rain! And sometimes we get more rain than we should and sometimes we might get more snow than we should. I was really under the impression that once it started snowing it snowed for days, weeks and months. I had no idea that it was pretty much like rain.

This picture was taken during the month of November right when the leaves started to change. What a beautiful golden color they are. I am still in awe of the colors I have seen here.

Ciao

It's Christas Day!

My wish for you is that no matter where you are, who you are with or without, that you are going to do what makes you happy! Because the bottom line is that it doesn't really matter where you or who who you are with or without... the main thing is that you are Happy!

And since true Happiness comes from within.. well that shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?

I didn't put up an holiday decorations inside my house this year. I instead decided to put up the giant 3 xmas ornaments outside and the huge lime green glittered bow on the front door. Here's a picture of it.

Ciao

A Year ago Today - Christmas Eve

It's funny how some people's lives change dramatically from one year to the next and others lives don't. Sometimes that change is executed by our hands and sometimes it is because of circumstances beyond our control.

Some people like the predictability of the future. And while the future is NOT, in the least, predicable, a lot of people live as if it is and are devastated when they find out it isn't as predicable as they thought.

This time last year I was on the beautiful Hayman Island in Australia. The weather was warm 90+ degrees (32.2C), the water was clear teal color and I sat on the white sandy beach thinking it was not like any Christmas Eve I had ever experienced in my 50 years on this planet!

I had no idea that this year I would be sitting in my bed and it would be 23 degrees (-5C) outside.

One of the major differences I have seen this holiday season is that people in California don't go to the store to shop with a list in their hand. I noticed while running errands the other day that it appeared everyone, in Target, had a list in their hand. Small children, men, grandma and grandpa, they ALL had list. I thought it was sooooo sweet. It really touched my heart. Our economy is suppose to be in the toilet and yet there are people who make list of special people and special things to get for those special people. That's amazing!

This picture is of my special friend Kelly who I reconnected with in Australia last December. Although we had only met for the first time then I say "reconnected" because I believe that we have soul mates. People who we love dearly and we decide that we want them to be part of our new life experiences so we make a pack with them that we will cross paths in this lifetime. And when we do it feels like we are "reconnecting" and picking up the friendship where it left off in the past lifetime. It doesn't feel new or different or strange. I am blessed to have had this experience quite a few times, so I am fortunate enough to recognize it. In the picture Kelly and I are celebrating Christmas Eve!

Ciao

A Light in the Window

This is something that you never ever see in California.... a lone light in the window. It is done a lot here, mostly during the wintertime. A lady at the store told me that it began many many years ago before there were street lights. A house with a lone light in each window feels so warm and inviting to me. It's like you just know there must be fireplace, bowl of soup and good book inside.

While searching for lights I found that there are two kinds. The ones with cords, which are a royal pain and the ones without. The ones without are on a sensor. They are off for 16 hours and on for 8 hours and last about 3 months. Then you just change the batteries and are good to go. About 1 percent of the people who put lights in the windows leave them up all year. I think I will pack mine way when spring arrives.

The weather here was nothing like they said on the television. Which is pretty amazing. Philadelphia is 3 hours south/east from where I live. They received 23 inches of snow last weekend. We got 2-3 inches of snow.

Yesterday the high was 33 degrees (.05C) here and I took a walk. It reminded me of my trip to Iceland which was done in the month of February. I was out walking around in the cold everyday all day on that trip. The minute the sun started to go down which was around 4:00pm or 4:30pm, it felt like the temperature dropped 30 degrees instantly. And going out at midnight, standing in the middle of a field for 2 hours to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) was the coldest I have ever experienced. But it was soooo worth it and I would do it all in a second!

Ciao

Shoveling Snow is a Social Thing Here

So yesterday morning I walked outside and within minutes ALL of my neighbors where out. The sun was shining and it was sooo beautiful. Lots of chatting going on and a little bit of shoveling. Other than the chatting... it was super quiet!

It really wasn't as bad here as they said it was on tv. It went up to about 40 degrees (4.4C) and the sun was out for most of the day. I actually got in the car and ran a couple of errands.

It's funny... in October my neighbors said "November is when the weather gets really nasty." And that didn't happen. Then they said, "December is when the weather gets really nasty." And well.. that hasn't happened. And now they are saying, "January is when the weather gets really nasty." Okie..dokie... I'll just sit back and wait for that nasty weather to arrive!

Well, it's going to be a short but busy week. Only 3 work days. Lots of people will be on the road Thursday, Christmas Eve, or running last minute errands.

Another techie picture of Mario. I was looking all over for my remote!

Ciao

I Now Know Why I Like the Snow

I LOVE the silence that comes with the snow. I think it's magical. And when I look out of the window and see a guy walking his big black dog it just seems so serene. The only thing I hear right now is a crow and that's fine with me. I tell you.. the older I get the more noise bothers me.

I don't really understand people who let the weather affect their moods. I never moved to California for the weather. Lots of people live in California for the weather. And lots of people live in Pennsylvania for the seasons.

I took this picture an hour ago from my bedroom window. (taken at 8am)

I see one of my neighbors is out shoveling the snow off of the sidewalk, although I think I still see a flurry here and there. The city ordinance is that you must shovel the snow off of the sidewalk in front of your house within 12 hours after the snow has stopped, or you get fined. My landlady emailed me that information last night. So I am off to shovel.. I mean get some exercise....lol....lol...

Ciao

Create, Create, Create

It's what I live for!

Eckhart Tolle, who wrote the books 'The Power of Now" and "A New Earth" said during the first online interactive course (the one he did with Oprah for the book "A New Earth"), that he had to move to California before writing his book "A New Earth" and that that is where the energy was for him to write the book. Did he say that there are places on the planet where there isn't any creative energy? No. But one would assume from that statement that the energy is greater in some places than in other places. I don't know how true that is. Maybe it's one of those things that is true for the individual and what he believes. I am not sure I believe this. I think that some places might be stressful and you may have a lot to contend with, and that might interfere with your creative flow. I am sure a calming environment would be one that is easier to create in.

I would absolutely love to be able to create everything that pops into my head. A few years ago I had a dream about these special lollipops. I have never tried to make candy before and I have never seen the kind of lollipops that were in my dreams out in the real world. I just did some quick Google search and think that I can actually get what I need and try to make them. Hummm... we'll see...

Yesterday I was talking to a friend in California and we were talking about my YouTube channels and he asked "What are you getting out of it? I mean you are spending so much time, are you making any money? Is it worth your while?" I told him that everything I do in life is not for the almighty dollar and that I really enjoy making the videos and that's my main reason for doing it. He said, "I understand sista." But you know what? I don't really think he did.

I don't think you can put a price tag on creativity. If you are truly a creative person you can create any and everything. You can create yourself into a corner or out of one...lol..lol... I think that if you can think creatively, you can think outside of the box and these days thinking differently makes all the difference.

The picture is of a sequined calendar that I make my Mother every xmas. I have been making them for what could be 30 years (I don't remember when I actually started). She had a very large nail in her kitchen and every year she would hang the new one on top of the old ones. It was a great idea because you could just flip through and see all of the older ones. Well, hurricane Katrina came and wiped them all out so now she only has 6 on a nail.

Ciao

It's 17 Degrees Out (-8.3C)

I think when I was here last January the temperature got down to somewhere around 5 degrees (-15C) and I remember thinking to myself, "Anything below 10 degrees (-12.2C) feels uncomfortable to me."

In California, I remember the magic number was 110 degrees (43.3C). Any higher the temperature and I began to feel sick to my stomach.

Today the high will be around 32 degrees (0C) with some sunshine. And then snow tomorrow and tomorrow night.

Did you know that I am a "book reviewer"? To date, I have posted 385 book reviews on amazon. You can see my profile by clicking here http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AIJ6XU28MF3B/ref=sv__4.

I also post my book review on my YouTube book review channel www.youtube.com/Readerofeverything.

I have loved reading since I was a kid. If I go about 3 days without reading something I start to physically feel weird. I read just about any and everything. Nowadays, people send me books asking for me to read and write a review. And since I LOVE books... I literally have at least 100 sitting here for me to read. Out of all of the books that I have read, I think, only 5 I could not post a review of. If a book is really bad, (i.e. jumps all over the place, doesn't make much sense, no point to it at all, or disgusting.) I will return the book to the author with a note that I don't feel comfortable posting a review. After all, reviews are my personal opinion and not fact.

The picture is of my techie cat, Mario. Thank God, he is not a kid or he would probably be asking for every techie product out there for xmas....lol...lol...

Ciao

It Snowed Last Night

Once again I woke up to find about an inch or two of snow on the ground. It's so weird cause it wasn't raining when I went to sleep and I just didn't hear a thing. It wasn't snowing when I woke up and it didn't snow today. In facts, the sun came out.

And once again, I went outside with shovel in hand, to shovel the sidewalk, and there wasn't any snow on it. My sister says that the people who lived here before me must have put a ton of salt on the sidewalk. Yipppeeee... lucky me.

Remember I told you that I really am a seasonal worker, well ... I have been working my ass off. I have, from day one, had problems with the office I got in Delaware in June of this year. Well, earlier this week I found another place so I spent part of Monday and yesterday changing the address on lots of things, (i.e. bank accounts, business cards, labels, stationery, etc.).

Well, I haven't been happy with the website for my legal business, Professional Legal Assistors, so today I decided I would build a new website, from scratch, by myself. I tell you, GoDaddy has this down pat and first class customer service. I called this morning, with my list of questions in hand, and the guy at GoDaddy not only answered all of my questions but pointed me in the right direction and emailed me some great useful information. I began at 8am and stopped for 1 hour to put a roast in the oven and then went back to it. By 8pm the new website was not only complete but up live! You can see it here www.biz-usa.com.

Tomorrow I will be busy doing legal jobs that came in today but I didn't do because I wanted to get the website done.

I told my sister this morning, "When I get this website done I am going to feel so empowered. I am going to feel like I can fly!"

Ciao

It Seems Like Yesterday...

This time last year I was visiting beautiful New Zealand! It was an amazing trip that I will never forget.

Well, it appears that my friends and family are all thinking about me here in a much cooler climate than I have ever lived in. Gifts of scarfs, gloves, pjs, long underwear and down filled robes have arrived! I am truly a lucky girl!

The cold hasn't bothered me yet. Maybe I am more adaptable than one might imagine. Today the high was 42 degrees (5.5C). Tonight it will go down to 24 degrees (-4.4 degrees). Tomorrow the high will be 28 degrees (-2.2C) and for the rest of the week it will not get above freezing, 32 degrees (0C). We might get some snow flurries tomorrow.

I am lucky that I don't really need to get out and drive in the weather. So I can schedule my errands on days that are driving friendly..lol..lol..

I was thinking the other day that most of my vacations have been when the weather is cool. I wore a coat in Spain, London and definitely Iceland.

Lets see... what's going on in Woodland Hills, CA... well, Walt Disney's grandson, Patrick Disney Miller, was arrested, in his Woodland Hills home, on suspicion of illegal gun possession....lol...lol... No really seriously.... sorry about the laughing... it's just so LAish..lol...lol...

Hummm.... Bloomsburg, PA news... well a couple of cars slipped off the road when they hit a patch of ice yesterday.

I don't know about you but I would rather have weather related news any day than some hearing about some Dude hiding guns!

Ciao

Reason, Season and Lifetime

Have you seen that poem? It's great and I am going to post it here for you today.

Some news.... I have been bad this week about blogging... but promise to be better ;-)

Lot's of changes going on... the weather has changed and gotten colder and not much snow so far. It snowed one night but since the sun has come out all of the snow is gone. I went to Wilkes Barre and Williamsport, both are a bit north of here and they must have gotten a lot more snow because people's front lawns are still blanketed with several inches. On Friday the high was 27 degrees (-2.7C). I was out running errands. Yesterday the high was 37 degrees (2.7C) and that seemed a bit warmer to me, instead of just plain cold. I hear it is raining in Woodland Hills, California.

Besides the weather changing.... there have been other changes in my life... "special guy" has gone to North Carolina to be his special self. And the #1 question I have been asked is... "Are you going back to California?" And the answer is, "NO." I did not move to Pennsylvania because of him. I am eternally greatful that we met and he provided the opportunity for me to get to see and know this place.

Check out this beautiful poem. Ciao


Reason, Season and Lifetime


People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.
When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need
you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty,
to provide you with guidance and support,
to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part
or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something
to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met,
our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered
and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
those things you must build upon
in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person/people (anyway);
and put what you have learned to use in all
other relationships and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

~Author Unknown

More About the Ferrets in California

So today I turned on the television and their was a program on called "Extreme Dr. 90210". On there was a girl whose nose and top lip was missing. When she was a child she was attacked by a ferret. She lives in California and has spent the rest of her life, after the incident, lobbying the State of California to keep the law in place wherein it is illegal to own a ferret. Pretty wild stuff I tell you.. pretty wild stuff.

It is snowing outside! It has been snowing since around 10am this morning. It's really beautiful. I had some errands to run this morning and was a bit hesitant because ..... well.. it's snowing. It snowed in Houston yesterday and some of the freeways were closed. Snow can close roads in areas where people aren't use to it. I looked out of the window and saw 2 little old ladies, with their red hats and coats on, walking down the street in the snow like it was no big deal. And I remembered the promise that I made to myself that I would live life normally and not become paralyzed by the snow.

I noticed about a dozen birds sitting on an electrical wire outside in the snow. It was amazing.

Ciao

The Weather is Just Crazy

Just so you know... I am not ill.. I don't have the flu... I have been super busy and that is why I haven't been able to post to this blog for over a week.

In October everyone here said, "Wait until November, the weather will be really nasty."
Well, November came and went and the weather was gorgeous!

It was almost 60 degrees (15.5C) today. I talked to my sister who lives in Houston, Texas and my friend, Luci, who lives in Galveston, Texas. Galveston is 1 hour south of Houston. Both Galveston and Houston will get snow tonight! How wild is that? It's going to snow in the deep south before it snows here. That's crazy!

The joke here is that the weather has been so lovely because I am here....lol...lol...

The picture is another one that I took while the beautiful autumn leaves where changing.

Ciao